Kevin Meeks

Chickasaw Nation

Rear Admiral (RADM) Kevin Meeks was born in 1958 and raised in Byng. He earned a bachelor’s degree from East Central University and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Oklahoma. RADM Meeks is a longtime champion for increasing access to quality health services by working to add funding available to tribes and Indian Health Services (IHS), constructing new health care facilities, boosting the use of advanced telehealth technologies and more.

RADM Meeks’ career began in 1987 in South Dakota, where he served as an environmental health specialist. In 1989, he transferred to Claremore, followed by an assignment to the Alaska Area IHS. From 1995 - 2009, he fulfilled various management positions in the Oklahoma City Area IHS office. RADM Meeks served as the area director of the Oklahoma City Area IHS from 2009 - 2017. He was ultimately promoted to the IHS deputy director of field operations in 2017, where he directed 12 IHS area offices and became a crucial leader in providing quality health care to 2.2 million American Indians/ Alaska Natives. Before RADM Meeks retired from the IHS in 2019, he served as the Oklahoma City Area IHS director and the IHS deputy director for field operations.

In September 2020, Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby appointed RADM Meeks as the deputy secretary of health for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Health. That same year, he was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame. RADM Meeks was also awarded the Surgeon General’s Medallion by U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams in 2018. He received the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal in 2019.

RADM Meeks was appointed to the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Tribal and Indian Affairs in 2021.